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Thursday, August 9, 2012

As I do with almost every Essie collection, I've been anxiously anticipating the release of their Fall 2012 offering - Stylenomics! In the end, I've picked up all but one. SPOILER ALERT! I'm really disappointed. Not that the formulas aren't great - they are. And not that the colours aren't lovely - they're beautiful. This is just something that we've seen before, and we've seen it from Essie. A few times.

If you're looking to fill some gaps in your collection, this is a great place to do it. As I said before, the formulas were fantastic all around! However, if you're like me and the vampy and taupe sections of your collection are going strong, I'm going to do some comps below with mostly other Essie polishes - maybe my regret will save you some time/money/trouble!

Let's begin!

Skirting the Issue. Gorgeousssssss! Dark red/berry jelly. Yes, a jelly. And the application is truly wonderful. If you have Essie Clutch Me If You Can already though, you might want to skip this one. They are very close. Skirting the Issue is a bit lighter and *ever-so-slightly* more ruby red than CMIYC, which has a touch more berry. In reality they are more difficult to distinguish from one another - I had to hold them up to a blazing light to really see it. The photograph really accentuates the differences! (Odd, as it's usually it's the other way around...) Essie Bordeaux is lighter and warmer than Skirting the Issue.

L-R: Essie Bordeaux, Essie Skirting the Issue, Essie Clutch Me If You Can

Miss Fancy Pants. Again, very pretty and right up my alley. This one reminds me of OPI Berlin There, Done That from THEIR Fall collection, but I don't have it (yet) for comparison purposes. It is warmer than Essie Chinchilly, and quite a bit lighter than Essie Merino Cool. The comp pics are below with Don't Sweater It, as I put a taupe line-up together!

Don't Sweater It. Another pretty taupe, this time darker! This one has a similar level of darkness in comparison to Essie Merino Cool, but has more of a mauve undertone instead of purple. You can see it next to Essie Mink Muffs, which is much more brown. I find this one to be really flattering on the hands! If you haven't found your *perfect* shade of taupe yet, give this one a shot.

Stylenomics. The polish the line was named for! A dark almost-black green. (NB: Things tend to look quite dark on me since I am so fair.) It's not a true green-green, but has a dose of blue in it that reminds me of an evergreen tree. Definitely bluer than OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow. HTAT is a jelly and Stylenomics is a very opaque creme. Comparing the two isn't easy, as they are both very dark. Sadly, much darker than I was hoping. Again, it reminds me of an OPI Germany polish - Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine. I don't have that one either (yet), but I might pick it up since it seems like it might be a lighter version of this that won't read as *black* in most lights. Maybe?

L-R: OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow, Essie Stylenomics

Recessionista. And finally a quick one - I picked this up last minute and don't have a mani picture of it, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting! In terms of what I have in my collection, this falls somewhere between Essie Sole Mate - which is darker and a jelly, whereas this is a creme - and Essie Plumski - a long-gone LE colour. It's *very* closer to Plumski, which has a tinge more red. If you missed out on that one, I'd pick this up! It's a lovely plum.

L-R: Essie Plumski, Essie Recessionista, Essie Sole Mate

The only colour I didn't grab was Head Mistress - it's a red and I am pretty happy with my collection of reds right now. It does look fab in other people's online swatches...hmm...

Again, lovely collection, but really unimaginative from Essie. I'm pretty bummed. I'm even more bummed that I bought so many of them. If I could do it all over again, I would just pick up the two taupes (I clearly have a taupe problem...but these are so flattering!) and perhaps Skirting the Issue because I like the formula better than Clutch Me If You Can's.

Will you be picking up any of these? Please let me know your latest polish regret so I don't feel so alone!

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comments:

Thanks for the swatches. I have not seen this collection in my little town Rite Aide yet. Not really too excited now having seen all but the 1 you did not get on your nails and the one you did not buy only because I have a lot of really similar shades in my stash now. I find when shades get deep like some of these, the close cousin shades I have are fine for me..it's only myself who ever knows X is X and not Y shade. I am curious what the red you did not pick up looks like. I am a big red fan and if the formula is great, I often will ditch one out of my stash that is old/dated/not worn anymore or one I have that has a less than great formula. I think if I were going to get one you have shown us here, it would be Skirting the Issue. That one really looks pretty. I never got the red that this is reminding me of from fall 2011 Essie collection - the one that was all about purse kind of names. I like the looks here of that one - and knowing it's a jelly is cool...I don't have a deep red/berry jelly yet.

Has essie seriously run out of ideas? They are duping colors from their own core line! I almost picked up Recessionista and Fancy Pants at Ulta last weekend and I'm glad I didn't waste my money. I'm at the point in my collection where I can only justify buying truly unique colors.

Love these! So glad we can count on you for Essie swatches and comparisons.

I received my picks from both the Essie and OPI fall collections last night and did a few one finger swatches - I can tell you that Nein Nein is much lighter, less green and less opaque than Stylenomics. Nein Nein is more of a grey with green undertones, while Stylenomics is really a green with blue/grey undertones. I'm glad to have both, actually. Stylenomics reminded me of a deeper, greyer Incognito from that Masquerade collection a few winters back.

I got both the taupes and... I'm pretty sure I could do a two handed taupe ombre mani at this point, but I just can't help myself. I love them both.

I didn't get Skirting the Issue or Recessionista, and seeing your swatches I think it was the right decision. They're pretty, for sure, but I don't NEED them. Head Mistress is really beautiful, and I don't have too many reds in my stash. It's a little less opaque than I would like, but a really beautiful color.

I forgot - Berlin there done that is not a dupe for either of the Essie taupes in the collection. I think it would make a really nice coordinating mani/pedi with Fancy Pants (if you're in to that sort of thing).

@beachgal - You're so welcome! I'm curious about that red now too...I might have picked it up, but my Ulta is out of it! Let me know if you get Skirting the Issue! I'm really happy with it - gorgeous and great formula.

@emilee - LOL yes that's how I felt! Glad I could back up your instinct :)

@Grace - You're welcome! I worry that no one reads/cares sometimes. Thanks for letting me know you like it. As I suspected, from what you say it sounds like I'm going to need Nein and Berlin! I'm a taupe fiend too...Probably (definitely) the biggest colour category in my stash! Do you have anything that is close to Head Mistress? I'm very curious about it now!

How does Stylenomics compare to Essie Go Overboard? I love dark teals and green-blues, so this is really tempting--but I don't want to buy it if it's super close to Go Overboard, which is one of my absolute favorites!

@k2k - I only have about 5 red cremes (definitely the smallest contingent in my stash). Off the top of my head: OPI Big Apple Red, Essie Nouveau Red (just the mini), Essie Really Red, Essie Limited Addiction... okay, make that 4 red cremes. So... Head Mistress is unique to my stash, but I (clearly) did not go on a hunt for red last October, so that's not really saying much, I guess.

It's definitely a red, but with strong berry-ish undertones, and it's not a jelly, but it's also definitely not completely opaque in two coats.

I received Plumberry in the same shipment - on your recommendation :) - and it's probably closer to that than any of the true reds I have.

@Meagan - Go Overboard is MUCH lighter. Much. If you're looking at undertones, GO is also bluer. Stylenomics is darker and greener. Like a spruce forest.

@Grace - You're always so descriptive and helpful! Thanks so much :) I have Size Matters from Essie which is kind of a berry red and I LOVE that, so I'm thinking I might skip this one. I'm sure they aren't dupes or anything, but I need to draw the line somewhere!

I felt exactly the same as you did about this collection - it turned up at my Ulta a week or two ago and I was like "these are new?" I was disappointed because I think the last few Essie collections have really hit it out of the park as far as interesting colors go, and I may end up completely skipping Stylenomics.

Okay, if you want my brain (and I have a pretty good brain for color, being autistic. I see in images AND color naturally. Reading is a lot of fun for me. It's a living theater), Stylenomics is a cousin to Nein, Nein, Nein, Okay Fine. OPI's is greyer tinged from what I can tell from Scrangie's photos; Essie's being bluer. I'd hedge if HTAT and Style had a kid, it'd be Nein.

Berlin There, Done That to Fancy Pants. Fancy Pants is darker and warmer. Berlin There is more cool toned to my eyes.

Of course, that's my brain going off photos. I don't really go for such dark greens as I like them lighter (like Illamasqua's Rampage), but Stylenomics is pretty.